Call me Ms Clause

This Christmas has me feeling nostalgic, I remember Christmases that were far more anticipated. Christmas as a child was incredibly special because you got to pick a special dress that you would wear on Christmas Day, even the meat you ate was rared a month in advance, it fell on the shoulders of the oldest child to make sure that the chicken or goat was fed, you had to ensure the animal was well looked after in the lead up to Christmas meal. There would be fireworks for the entire month of December, carol singers filled the air with sweet melodies of festive tunes, traffic would be far more intense in the days before Christmas and my mother would have the house stocked with an assortment of treats and fruits. We would have the obligatory Christmas church service on the eve of Christmas Day, promptly followed by the prep of our Christmas Day feast. Whatever animal that has been kept for fattening would get slaughtered by the oldest male in the house, although my father rarely did this and it fell on the hands of the paid help.

Christmas morning would mean a very early start as mother would get up and start on the first of many dishes that would pass through the kitchen, we would be roped in to help with small chores such as peeling, cleaning etc. After a very hearty breakfast, it would be sofa time of watching home alone or some other Christmas movie, although at this point, we would hardly make it through before we all start nodding off and eventually all end up having a food induced nap. In the afternoon basket of dishes will be delivered to several neighbours who are also family friends, we would usually be sent to deliver the food as it means the adult reward or compliment the kids with presents and money. You would generally expect a lot of visitors, family members and friends sometimes even business partners, throughout the day all this people would come to pay their compliments, more food would be consumed and the adults would have a few drinks, at some point there would be terrible dad dancing, the evening generally ended with fireworks.

Christmases in the London is of course a very different affair, mostly focused around immediate family members spending time together, listening to the Queens’ speech, followed by a traditional roast dinner. The lead up to Christmas is Oxford Circus kitted out with the best display of lights, shops running several sale campaigns in the bid to get people spending more money, disruption to public transport and everyone wishing for a white Christmas which is very rare. Presents are exchanged and opened either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, more food is consumed, board games gets played someone gets furiously annoyed about loosing.

I wish you all a very British Christmas, surrounded by your nearest and dearest and hope the day brings a lot of joy and rest. xoxo